In Newburgh school budget battle, facts and rumors duke it out

Newburgh Superin­tendent Ralph Pizzo slides behind the wheel of his ride, pulls out the vehicle's New York State registration and waves it in the air.

Pauline Liu

Newburgh Superin­tendent Ralph Pizzo slides behind the wheel of his ride, pulls out the vehicle's New York State registration and waves it in the air.

"You see, it's not an Escalade," he says.

It's a 2006 Ford Escape.

And the owner?

Well, that's him, the registration says.

Not the school district, Not the taxpayers.

In fact, he says, he bought it used in 2008. The mileage has climbed to about 71,000, which makes its Blue Book value about $11,000.

"I want to prove this is my car," he says as he flicks the ignition and slips the Escape out of the parking spot and into traffic.

But the streets of Newburgh make it a tough sell.

Some residents will swear they have seen Pizzo wrapped in a $60,000 Cadillac Escalade. It rankles them. They say in emails and voice mails, on street corners and in shops, that school administrators got raises. Big raises.

Teachers got offered concessions. Taxpayers and students were left with bigger bills and hard lessons.

Pizzo steers his SUV around a corner and down the next street.

He has tried to tamp down the Escalade talk before.

Pizzo's predecessor drove an SUV that was leased to the district. Her Mercury Mariner looked much like his own vehicle. When that lease expired, the Mariner went back to the dealership.

No matter. The rumor refused to die, kind of like how the district's budget crisis has dragged on and on.

Parents in Newburgh were left reeling last month, after the teachers' union shot down a four-year labor agreement offered by the district. The teachers' contract expired last June.

Both sides are expected to head back to the bargaining table soon.

The concessions from the tentative deal would have closed a $1.9 million budget gap while eliminating nearly 30 teaching jobs. Newburgh has an enrollment of more than 11,000 students.

The school board and the administration were counting on the teachers to ratify the agreement in order to save an elementary school from closing. It also was intended to keep the kindergarten program for about 1,000 kids intact.

But the voting majority of the union — consisting of 1,032 working teachers, about 650 retirees and 132 teaching assistants — said they had had enough.

Like their counterparts across the state, the Newburgh teachers have made it no secret they've been stressed by the additional workload and the increased testing the state has required of them since the start of new school year.

The new requirements, are the result of new teachers evaluation and new Common Core curriculum that kicked in last September.

"Many members were outraged that they would again be asked to make sacrifices, without seeing commensurate sacrifices by Central Administration," Newburgh Teachers' Association President Art Plichta said in a statement a few days after the teachers voted down the deal.

Plichta said the district had placed "unfair pressure on educators."

Personnel costs make up more than 80 percent of Newburgh's recently passed $236.3 million budget, said Mike Pacella, the assistant superintendent of finance.

Like Pizzo's car, the administrators and union have sparred about who got what pay hikes for next school year.

One issue is the raise given to the executive director of human resources, granted after he took on the added role of running the district's alternative education program this year.

This same administrator's salary also increased thanks to a contractual pay hike. A so-called longevity increase took effect because he'd reached 20 years of service to the district. Now he makes $161,554.

Meanwhile, the assistant superintendent for school improvement received a $5,030 raise when he took over school improvement. The new duties that accompany his $156,699 salary include supervising the new teachers' evaluations and the new Common Core learning standards.

"They took on additional duties, so they received pay raises," said Pizzo.

The teachers' union finds that reasoning unfair.

"I think the point of contention to be that all the teachers have more responsibilities because of the evaluations and the new curriculum and they're not being compensated," said Plichta.

The adminsitration explained teachers receive stipends for working extra hours, but Plichta insists that in most cases his teachers are not eligible for stipends if they're staying late to work on their lesson plans.

According to Pacella, the teachers are due for an annual increase of about 2 percent in July in accordance with the terms of their previous contract — unless a new agreement is ratified before then.

Pizzo's $175,000 salary actually is less than what many of his counterparts in smaller school districts are making.

His salary has remained frozen since he returned to the district in 2010 to replace the late Annette Saturnelli, who died after a long battle with cancer. He officially was hired as superintendent in February 2011.

Records show Pizzo will take another pay freeze when the new fiscal year begins in July and this time he'll be joined by three of his assistant superintendants.

He explained it was necessary because the district's "money situation is going south," which is also why he didn't want the district to lease a new car for him.

Still, he finds himself unable to steer clear of issues which he feels shouldn't be controversial. He admits that it's frustrating.

"I talk to other superintendents and they don't get harassed with this stuff," he said.

pliu@th-record.com

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.